Key to Success, Keeping a Journal.... Part one
Whey I'm asked occasionally, what I think the keys to my success are, I usually surprise people by saying ‘Keeping a Journal'. Of course they are referring to financial success & so am I, but a Journal will make you successful in every aspect of life. Your relationships, your personal development and the way you feel about yourself. A life seems to be more important, more precious when it's documented. And It's not really the ‘big' events on your journey, it's the small and medium things on a daily basis that shape who you are and where you're going - it's these things that will be the most interesting, the most precious to you ten years from now, 5 years from now, even a year or six months.
Keeping a Journal makes me feel like a better person - it makes me want to be a better person.
If my house was burning down and my family and Chester were out & safe, the first thing I would grab to save would be my journals - all eight volumes.
The biggest objection I get when I try to convince people to keep a journal is ‘It's too late, I should have started when the kids where small'. Just start right now - believe me. Just start now. How precious would my Dad's thoughts from the last 10 years of his life be to me? But I would stress that the purpose and the real value of your journal is not it's ‘legacy'. It's a living, active document and what it makes of you as you live life. If some off spring of yours finds value after your gone, that's just a bonus.
The next objection is usually ‘I don't have time". You sound pretty silly saying that. We all have the same 24 hours and look at what some people are able to accomplish! One thing I occasionally write in my journal is what I do in any given day, breaking down the hours. Let's see, I worked eight hours (breaking down the work hours is another page & very reveling!), I took time to eat (again, another page - if you write down what your eat I guarantee you'll eat better!) I commuted back & forth (what am I listening too - add up the hours), I watch a couple TV shows, read the paper & checked my e-mail, read 10 minutes and fell asleep.... The next time your write, you'll want to have improved on that day!
Start keeping a journal & you'll enrich your life.
How do you get started? I have some pretty fancy ‘Journals' but I also have some regular $1.99 cent notebooks and I would recommend the latter. First of all you probably have one of those laying around right now, so no excuses. Second, you won't be so self conscious about what goes in it & how perfect it has to be - just write, scribble, cross out, tape things in - cards from restaurants, movie tickets, photos, a lock of your daughter's hair...
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